A golf club consists of three parts: a stick, usually called a "shaft", bearing at its upper end a handle called a "grip" and at its lower end a member for striking the ball called a "head". Clubs are classified into three categories designated by the terms "woods", "iron", and "putter", each of these categories having a head with a specific shape and dimensions.
The invention relates to all types of clubs and in particular woods and irons which have a head whose face striking the ball includes grooves whose function when striking the ball is to help cause the latter to rotate, this rotation having a determining part to play in the accuracy of the shot. This accuracy also depends on the geometry of the striking face and the accuracy of its manufacture, any even minor defect having an effect on the ball's trajectory.
Traditionally a golf club head, and at least its striking face, is made of forged steel. This technique gives the club a good striking quality and a "soft striking feel" to which players are accustomed, but conversely the striking face and the grooves do not have a very satisfactory geometry, which as we have already seen results in irregular shot accuracy.
Another manner of constructing club heads consists of using the molding technique known as the lost-wax technique. This method appreciably improves the geometrical quality of the striking face, thus increasing shot accuracy, but the "feel of the strike" is not the same as that felt from a club whose head has been made by forging. Also, this lost-wax process does not make it possible to obtain a satisfactory groove geometry, and this also has an adverse effect on shot accuracy.